Hohokam MARK I (1983 - 1984) KING Released October 1984
COMMENTARY		CREDITS	LYRICS
NU 3 7 inch vinyl 45 r.p.m. NUM 3 12 inch vinyl 45 r.p.m. Numan Music, 1984 CLICK THE HIGHLIGHTED SONGS TO HEAR SAMPLES A § 0 6:56 King (Extended Mix) B § 1 5:27 The American Way § 2 3:56 King (Radio Edit) all tracks written by Taitt/ Kamm / Alum / Devier Produced by Gary Numan Engineered by Pete Buhlmann Dave Earl, Guitar, Chants Steve Devier, Vocals and Keyboards, Chants Tony Alum, Drums, Chants George Kamm, Bass, Synths, Chants Paul Ashby, Sleeve Design Recorded at Rock City Studios, Shepperton, Middlesex, England Marketed and Distributed by Precision Records & Tapes Ltd.
Ratings (1-5)
A	5
B § 1	4
B § 2	5
overall	14 / 15

Comments LAST UPDATED ON 01 April 2006 The sleeve notes of the CD reissue of Gary Numan's White Noise erroneously proclaimed that Hohokam were the former band in which John Webb--Gary Numan's brother--received his start. This is but one error in a long history of misinformation about the origins, evolution and disintegration of the Numan prot©g©s. In actuality, back in 1983 two young men, John O'Neil and Tony Edwards, squeezed a tape of demo songs by a recently disbanded group called Intermission through the mail drop of Gary Numan's front door in Virginia Water, Surrey. Intermission was the brainchild of Tony Edwards (drums) and Dominik Taitt(keyboards), the latter of which inducted his friend, Steve Murtaugh, for lead vocals in what would be his first working band. George Grimes (keyboards) was subsequently introduced to them by a South London nightclub manager whom Taitt had met earlier. While Grimes and Edwards began organizing the nightclub's weekly event called "The Happy House" (inspired by a Siouxsie and the Banshees song), that selfsame nightclub supervisor took on the unofficial role as the group's manager and gave it its band name, "Intermission." Shortly after recording a corpus of songs sufficient to be called a demo tape, Intermission broke up. However, John O'Neil (Steve Murtaugh's best friend at the time) and Tony Edwards took initiative to bring the demo directly to Numan's doorstep (not through his car window, as some accounts describe). Numan, who had just left W.E.A./Beggars Banquet to begin his new Numa label, was duly impressed with the cutting edge lyrics and techno sound of the Intermission tape. In fact, one of the tracks carried great potential for release as a single. Numan agreed to sign them, and "King" became the first modestly successful song of the Numa label. The band quickly reassembled itself, but was already in a state of flux. Dominik Taitt elected not to sign on with the group, even though his name is credited on the sleeve notes and label of "King," to which he contributed substantially in its demo version. Instead, Numa Records and Taitt began negotiating a contract to showcase Taitt as a separate artist; this was followed by a wholly inaccurate rumor that Taitt solicited legal counsel about the contracts, causing Numa to withdraw its offer. (Read a the full and true account of Dominik Taitt in an exclusive interview, available in the Hohokam Lobby.) Another close friend of John O'Neil, David Scrace (who had been introduced to the others by Intermission's manager in 1982), was subsequently enlisted to fill the gap left by Taitt.
Meanwhile, a fresh start demanded a little reinvention, and the band and three of its members underwent name changes: hence Steve (Murtaugh) Devier, Tony (Edwards) Alum and Dave (Scrace) Earl. George Grimes, who by now had already been using the stage pseudonym "George Kamm," unabashedly professed an academic and cultural interest in North American Indians. This is why the theme of Native North American culture predominates many of the songs that Kamm wrote for the group. The sleeve for this first single, in fact, features a map of the southwestern territories of the United States that were once occupied by an ancient, now extrinct people, the HoHoKam. Being its primary songwriter sans Taitt, and wanting to shed the ties to the manager who had imposed the name "Intermission" in the first place, Kamm persuaded the others to convert the group's name to Hohokam in honor of the HoHoKam tribal culture, officially giving birth to Hohokam Mark I.
Aside from these characteristically unstable beginnings, "King" was a promising debut for Hohokam: a smart techno industrial jeremiad about war and destruction, in the same vane as "Two Tribes" by Frankie Goes To Hollywood. It offers a trope about any of the big Western powers poised on nuclear annihilation: "It must have seemed the last remark, / the scattered ashes of the soul survivor." The flip-side, "The American Way," is a cynical recrimination of the American culture and its history of genocide against its indigenous peoples: "Glory to slaughter, / the key to votes paid for." Though the lyrical import is damaged by some careless dubbing (namely, the unnecessary "blaah-bl-bl-bl-blaah-blaah" in the middle of the song), overall the tribal drumbeat combined with the chorus's war cry made the song downright infectious: "People speak of the American Way. / The only Americans left today / are a very proud race / slowly fading away." Regrettably, due to a clash of personalities between George Kamm and Gary Numan's family while touring in 1984, Kamm was ejected from the group, taking some of that hard-edged authenticity more characteristic of Intermission with him. And, in a move that surprised his ex-colleagues, Kamm also took with him the songwriting copyrights to songs such as "Shatter the Raindrop" and "The Backroom" which not only represented the majority of Hohokam's live repertoire, but which had once been slated for inclusion on a potential album with Numa Records. Consequently, Tony Alum fell into the job of primary songwriter (even though the sleeve notes would continue to create a sense of equanimity by crediting all three--Alum, Earl and Devier--for the songwriting). Then, between December 1984 and September 1985, the remaining members of Hohokam gave only four live performances in minor venues, and did so primarily as a means to test their newly written material. George Kamm, incidentally, went on to form his own group, choosing a name once again consistent with his interest in the native cultures of the American West: Badlands. Sadly, though, Kamm's departure was only the beginning of the disintegration of relations between the remaining band members and Gary Numan. Those specifically searching for irony here might ponder the coincidence of the name "Numa" juxtaposed to the name "Hohokam". This ancient tribe flourished for roughly fifteen hundred years until 1200 C.E., suffering the same mysterious fate of their contemporaries, the Anasazi. "HoHoKam," in fact, means "The Ones Who Vanished." The Numa, another moniker for the Paiute people indigenous to the Great Basin Desert in the Southwestern United States, was one of the several tribal traditions to emerge from the ashes of the HoHoKam culture. Not only did Numa Records outlast the short-lived career of Hohokam, but some have even suggested that vestiges of George Kamm's influence on Numan's sound can be discerned in the early version of "Call Out the Dogs": the previously unreleased track "Tribal," which resembles "The American Way" in its tribal chants and marching percussion. (Click HERE to listen to a sample of "Tribal".) Perhaps some of that gathering animosity was the residue of a paradox in which Gary Numan found himself as soon as he sought to manage and produce other artists. As stated in his flexi disc introduction to Hohokam, groups like the former Intermission represented his purest intentions in permitting other artists to sign on to his label: to promote talent with an original sound and a desire to succeed. "What I did," says Numan, "was try to run Numa as a conventional small label...That mistake in itself was bad enough, but I compounded it by trying to be fair." From the onset, his efforts to promote his signed acts were in conflict with his own career advancement. Nevertheless, as a gesture of his generosity, Numan invited Hohokam and another recently signed artist, Larry Loeber, to be his support acts on the Berserker Tour in late 1984. Both tracks of the NU 3 single were among the five songs performed "live," and, predictably, were the most popular; the other three songs in the set list were "Shatter," "The Backroom," and "Spirit of the Ancestors." Those in attendance recall Steve Devier's brandishing of a martial arts weapon requiring considerable and careful choreography.  With the exception of Devier's act, the band's ability to perform live is remembered as less than stellar that first year.  Even Numan himself remarked that they were unduly over-confident about their live playing skills. Some expressly recall, however, Alum's drumming in "The American Way" as being especially noteworthy for its fervor and punch. (Of the four musicians, Alum was the one who came from a background of musician parents.) But "American Way" and "King" were predominantly mimed on stage a fair amount of the time. In fact, Kamm had a reputation for forgetting sometimes to power up his synth keyboard during the mimed performance of "King", which was readily apparent to anyone in the audience scrutinizing his Roland SH101 for its glowing red "ON" switch. Perhaps because of tendancies like these the band encountered occasional rancor from concertgoers. During the Portsmouth leg of the tour, for example, while experiencing some sudden technical difficulties with the band's equipment, Devier asked the audience, "Does anybody know any jokes?" (a technique that worked for Numan during a similar breakdown in New Zealand several years earlier). Devier's less-than-gratifying answer was, "You lot!" Ah, the life of a support band . . . For more information about Hohokam and their next single, link HERE.
LEFT TO RIGHT: Tony Alum; Gary Numan; George Kamm; Steve Devier; David Earl
Thanks to Peter Steer, Tony Edwards, Steve Devier, Dominik Taitt, Barry Grimes and the Grimes Family, for their gracious assistance in adding detail to this page. (Memory Lane isn't always found in the safest neighborhoods, is it. Thanks for your courage, guys.) Anyone who would like to contribute additional information or photos of Hohokam can reach me at Karl.Sherlock@gcccd.net. I will gladly acknowledge your input on this page.
© 2004-2006 Karl J. Sherlock LYRICS
KING LYRICS WRITTEN BY DOMINIK TAITT King, king, king, king . . . I didn't want to see your face, the dirty shoes of a million people. I didn't leave you in disgrace, the orange glow from the tallest steeple. Chorus: King of the heartless tribe, King of the heartless tribe. He's a king of the heartless tribe. He's a king of the heartless tribe. I didn't want to make mistakes the balanced lives of imperfect children. I couldn't see them be replaced, the hollow thoughts of those who killed them. Chorus It must have been the last remark, the scattered ashes of the soul survivor. It must have seemed like splintered glass, the sudden end of a perfect life for Chorus Heartless, heartless, heartless, heartless . . . Sole survivor . . . the sudden end of a perfect life for, repeat chorus	THE AMERICAN WAY LYRICS WRITTEN BY GEORGE KAMM White man bring the gun. Red skins passive far too long. Rifles now load, firing stones. The battle was won before it was fought. Chorus People speak of the American Way. The only Americans left today are a very proud race slowly fading away. [repeat] Loving the slaughter, loving your unfair war, loving the slaughter, the feeling of votes paid for. Chorus People speak of the American Way. The only Americans left today are a very proud race . . . People speak of the American Way. The only Americans left today are a very proud race . . . People speak of the American Way. The only Americans left today are a very proud race slowly fading away. [repeat] Glory to slaughter. Glory, your unfair war. Glory to slaughter. The key to votes paid for. Chorus People speak of the American Way. The only Americans left today are a very proud race slowly fading away. [repeat]